Upgrading to premium scope

[Ceebee58]

I currently have a Starwatcher 120 refractor . It seems to do the business and I get a great view of everything from the moon to the Andromeda galaxy ( the latter just about) . I have upgraded the eyepiece and noticed a huge improvement. 
I considered purchase of a premium scope such as https://www.firstlightoptics.com/stellamira-telescopes/stellamira-80mm-ed-f10-refractor-telescope-with-rp-focuser.html

this is considerably more expensive than my starwatcher and needs diagonals etc. to make it a working scope so I am guessing in excess of £1k to get suitably good accessories. . Now the light capture area is less than half that of the sky watcher so will I still see deep space objects ? I am hoping that the image will be sharper in the more expensive scope ( recent views of Jupiter on the Skywatcher were good but a little ‘fuzzy’. In short what advantage am I going to see when I look through the scope .

mount will be an AZ- GTI

Thanks

 

[RobertI]

The Stella Mira 80mm is a beautiful high quality scope with ED glass and it will excel on moon, planets, solar and doubles. For deep sky I would say you would miss the extra aperture of the 120 but downside of your scope is I believe it’s an achromat so you get purple haloes on bright objects and miss out of very fine detail on planets and moon.   I did consider the 80mm Stella Mira when I was looking for a more premium refractor, and i really wanted it, but decided I needed a bit more aperture and ended up with a 102ED F7 refractor, although I also have an 8” SCT for fainter stuff. Do you already have an AZ-GTI? Does it handle the weight of the 120 ok? 

You might find this video of interest…

 

[Elp]

Don't have that scope, but I've owned acromat and after much research bought a WO Z61 which I still have (FPL53 synthetic fluorite), pin sharp pretty much on any target. Larger scope obviously comes at greater cost.

[andrew63]

For deep sky, that is a big downgrade from a 120 which you will notice, along with a much smaller field of view. 

[Stu]

@Ceebee58 what is your primary use for the scope? If for visual, I do think you would notice a big drop in brightness from 120 to 80mm, so I wonder whether a 100mm f7 ish apo would be worth looking into. Although the views through an 80 ish mm apo scope can be lovely, and very contrasty, they are limited in resolution. From experience the planetary views in a 100mm scope are quite a bit more rewarding.

I have 60mm, 76mm and 100mm apos and enjoy them all. The smaller ones are that much more portable and so very useful for grab and go and travel etc but the 100mm is definitely worth putting out for longer sessions.

[Mr Spock]

The 80 is a nice scope, but for another £100 the Starfield 102mm f7 is in the next level up. It's a serious planetary scope and will show lots of detail on Jupiter and the moon.

[HollyHound]

I’ve owned the StellaMira 80mm… it was a beautiful, super solidly built (and heavy) scope. Superb on the moon and planets (I had my best views of Mars during 2020) 👍

It was also fine for deep sky work, but will be noticeably dimmer than a 100 or 120 scope.

if your primary purpose is solar system objects, then this is a scope to go for.

One small point, as mentioned earlier, it is significantly heavier than my Takahashi FC-76DCU as an example, and the AZ-GTi “might” struggle with it… best check the payload.

Oh and @FLO have one on offer if it is of interest… https://www.firstlightoptics.com/offers/offer_stellamira-80mm-ed-f10-refractor-telescope-with-rp-focuser_329571.html

[RobertI]

4 minutes ago, HollyHound said:

Oh and @FLO have one on offer if it is of interest… https://www.firstlightoptics.com/offers/offer_stellamira-80mm-ed-f10-refractor-telescope-with-rp-focuser_329571.html

That’s a very nice discount!

[Ceebee58]

Thanks for the info . As I thought the drop in aperture would be a problem . Flo have recommended a couple of scopes around 100 mm for planetary work so will count the piggy bank 🙂

[Elp]

If you're worried about aperture  and still want it for planetary a Newtonian or SCT/RC/Mak would be the way to go, though they will be at the limit of the azgti. I have just about got a 130pds and C6 to work with it for imaging, but they needed to be mounted onto a strong tripod.

[Carl Au]

22 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

The 80 is a nice scope, but for another £100 the Starfield 102mm f7 is in the next level up. It's a serious planetary scope and will show lots of detail on Jupiter and the moon.

Like he said..,

[Carl Au]

8 hours ago, Ceebee58 said:

Thanks for the info . As I thought the drop in aperture would be a problem . Flo have recommended a couple of scopes around 100 mm for planetary work so will count the piggy bank 🙂

I highly recommend the 102 Starfield from FLO, quality without breaking the bank completely, but still not cheap